....Oh as I understand it, it was run by Trievents, a private events management company ...

Andrew, agreed. But how much state support went in to it?

Imagine ringing up Transperth and asking to open the train system three hours early on a Sunday and being charged full commercial price, ditto police and DPI/Main Roads organisational support and schools to give community service credits for the volunteers with the magic bottles.

Also, "Hello Alana, I have a really great idea. Close half the freeway for me for eight hours so that I can make a profit." Hmmmmmm.

My point is that although a private company ran the Bike Hike it would not have happened without a lot of government support. The WA government put up substantial subsidies and credibility to support an event to get people exercising and perhaps to reduce traffic a little.

I think that shows a very positive government attitude which should be acknowledged and encouraged.

Looks like there were some great times achieved, hats off to Graeme and Jason!

Which direction was the wind blowing? I assume SW judging by the times?

I arrive back in Perth on Wed evening, time to pick up the bike after a 2 week break (work not pleasure although the pleasure part tried to rear its head on a few occasions! - looking forward to the Easter break to get my fitness back! )

I attribute my fast time to the pack I was in, while Nimm's time was due to the work he put in dragging his pack along as one of the leading riders in the pack. He earned his time, while I bludged along in my lounge chair.

Cheers,
Graeme

Think outside the double triangle.---------------------------------------Imagine a world with no hypothetical scenarios.

mich rolling wrote:....Oh as I understand it, it was run by Trievents, a private events management company ...

Andrew, agreed. But how much state support went in to it?

Imagine ringing up Transperth and asking to open the train system three hours early on a Sunday and being charged full commercial price, ditto police and DPI/Main Roads organisational support and schools to give community service credits for the volunteers with the magic bottles.

Also, "Hello Alana, I have a really great idea. Close half the freeway for me for eight hours so that I can make a profit." Hmmmmmm.

My point is that although a private company ran the Bike Hike it would not have happened without a lot of government support. The WA government put up substantial subsidies and credibility to support an event to get people exercising and perhaps to reduce traffic a little.

I think that shows a very positive government attitude which should be acknowledged and encouraged.

I was wondering, 7000+ cyclist ride the wrong way up the freeway for asma on sunday, a great event, and not one mention or photos in the west australian on monday or tuesdays paper, maybe i missed an artical flicking through the paper?

Nah. I don't think you missed it. After all, Channel 10 was a sponsor (if I remember rightly) and they showed about 7 seconds of footage as the last story on the news. The "bit at the end" where they usually fill with good news vision was taken up by grand prix footage.

In a shocking case of public defiance, more than 10,000 dangerous riders were seen to invade the city's freeway system, forcing drivers off the road and causing major disruption to the law abiding citizens of Perth. Not one of these cyclists was found to be riding on the correct side of the road, confirming the public's perception that all cyclists habitually break road rules for their own selfish agendas.

Shockingly, groups were seen to be riding dangerously in other ways too: the first riders along the freeway were thought to be drag racing, while most others were riding more than two abreast and at speeds well under the posted speed limits.

However, the most disturbing aspect of this rebellious gathering was the fact that most of these "Riders of the Petrol-Price-Hike Apocalypse" were seen to be smiling throughout the event. Today Tonight has been led to believe it's an indication they were actually enjoying the disruption they caused.

So, our phone-poll tonight:

Should culpable driving be removed from the state's statutes in cases where a cyclist has been run down by drunk/fatigued/texting drivers?

And in news just in:
It is believed the terrorists were able to evade detection for more than three hours by riding bicycles, thereby rendering them completely invisible to the mass media, car drivers and politicians. These people are more cunning and dangerous than even we imagined!

Graeme

Think outside the double triangle.---------------------------------------Imagine a world with no hypothetical scenarios.

I am an absolute novice (and also new here) and did the 60km today. It was bloody fantastic and an absolutely rush riding with so many people.

One thing.... A poor bloke got absolute smashed by someone pulling straight over into him, went straight over handle bars and hit the road head first. Noone knows if he is ok or anything?

Happened to see the whole thing and really shook me up.

Hi, regarding your posting about the bloke who went over the handlebars was this at about the 10km to go mark? near the greenwood 10km start? in the fast pack of about 80 riders? time at that point was 1 hr 14mins? if so I've got some interesting info on that poor guy

jezzageeks wrote:Hi, regarding your posting about the bloke who went over the handlebars was this at about the 10km to go mark? near the greenwood 10km start? in the fast pack of about 80 riders? time at that point was 1 hr 14mins? if so I've got some interesting info on that poor guy

I'd like to know about that bloke. I saw it happen so I'm interested in the end result of his riding style.

Cheers,
Graeme

Think outside the double triangle.---------------------------------------Imagine a world with no hypothetical scenarios.

This posting is written with just one hand as Iâ€™m actually that poor bloke that went over the top. As a result of being knock unconscious this is what I remember from the crash. Moving down that outside at about 50km/hr a guy shifted off his line into my way resulting in me having to brake hard and going over the top, next thing I remember was a volunteer asking me to hop into the passage side seat of his car so he could take me to the waiting amboâ€™s. I donâ€™t remember hitting the ground or even how I got to his car, didnâ€™t even remember how I got to Kwinana for the start until about 20 minutes after the accident.

Injuries: smashed helmet, fractured ribs both sides but the best bit is: surgery required to fix a broken clavicle bone, ac joint 90 degrees wrong direction, muscle torn off the bone, torn most ligaments and a hole in my back where the clavicle bone punctured through (sorry if that has made some people queasy). If only I could post a copy of the before and after x-rays, the plate and screws holding it all together looks pretty crazy. Further surgery required in 10 weeks and racing the half ironman is now on hold until next year, but hope to be sitting upright on the wind trainer in a week or so cos being off the bike is causing more pain than the injuries.

I was riding about 20m behind you and on the outside of the pack (right hand side) when you went over. As such, I wasn't watching you specifically, just generally aware of the riders to my left.

All of a sudden, there was yelling and veering. Riders swerving towards me and I was taking evasive action to the right by then too. It looked to be hell of a mess, but I was gone and concentrating on my line again by the time you were coming to a stop.

In the minutes following that incident, I overheard two other riders commenting on the accident. They said words to the effect of "I see the idiot on the orange Giant crashed ...." To which the other guy replied "Yeah, I'm not surprised: he was all over the road for a long time".

So, I don't know which rider you were, but the feeling amongst the riders nearby was that the bloke on the orange Giant was at fault and had it coming. Sorry if that was you: I'm just the messenger.

I hate to see any rider hurt, so I hope you get well soon and have no lasting effects from the accident.

Cheers,
Graeme

Think outside the double triangle.---------------------------------------Imagine a world with no hypothetical scenarios.

Well I'm glad to say I wasn't the orange giant rider and can't even remember the colour of the guy who shifted in front of me, only remember the guy that was in the ambo with me and he wasn't him either.

I spent majority of the ride on the outside pacing the pack for HIM and TT training, thought that was the safest place to be, out of the pack that is, boy was I wrong.............

I was the bloke on the yellow recumbent, mainly hanging near the back of the pack with a good view of things in front of me. At around the point you fell, I got sick of the slow downhill runs and the slower up-hills, so I moved outside the line and chose my own speed: that's how I managed to be near you when you fell.

Cheers,
Graeme

Think outside the double triangle.---------------------------------------Imagine a world with no hypothetical scenarios.

Wow, sorry to hear you suffered such extensive injuries Jezzageeks. All the best on the healing.

I was in a different pack of riders to you guys, maybe 1-5 minutes behind. We passed someone on the road with some volunteers/police. This person was wearing mostly blue coloured nicks/jersey and holding his arm against his body. That's all I saw and of course that far back we didn't actually see the accident...

(edit) Oh I should mention most of the race I was up the front in the pace line for our group because hanging further back was scaring the crap out of me. Quite a few times the group behind would surge around the front riders due to some idiot ruining the pace line. I'd find myself in the middle of a massive group and then have to work to the edge and then back up the front. One of the times when surrounded a guy in front of me had to break hard causing his wheel to lock and up came a puff of smoke! Lucky that was it and I avoided hitting him (breaking + slightly to the right).

Last edited by nimm on Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

jezzageeks wrote:Well I'm glad to say I wasn't the orange giant rider and can't even remember the colour of the guy who shifted in front of me, only remember the guy that was in the ambo with me and he wasn't him either.

I spent majority of the ride on the outside pacing the pack for HIM and TT training, thought that was the safest place to be, out of the pack that is, boy was I wrong.............

Mate I am so glad you are ok.....it looked bloody bad....and I felt sick for the rest of the ride...scared the living crap out of me.
I was about 10 metres ahead of you on the right...all I remember is someone yelling out, looking behind seeing you go head over and then crash into the ground head first.... I really thought you may have been worse off than your obvious extensive injuries...
After the accident....I remember one bloke yelling at a bloke saying it was his fault and he should stop and help you out...he told the guy to get f*****. If I remember correctly he was fairly stocky but that's about it.
Another bloke actually veered off to the right and alerted the volunteers of the accident.....
Very glad to hear you are on your way to recovery....good luck with it all.

Here is a bit of an update to all those interested from an injuried cyclist. Shoulder is still held together by a long plate and 4 long screws and I suffer with muscular pain every day with the mornings being the worst. Surgeon has told me that if it was a normal break the plate would already be out and I'd be back on the road but due to the extent of my injuries I won't be back under the knife until the end of July. So I still have at least 8 weeks of sitting on the wind trainer parked in front of the tv to come which let me tell you is now boring as hell, really need to get on the road now and experience some weather, even if the mornings are cold and sometime wet.

Keep your posts coming on this forum site, be it positive or negative, as it's a good read for someone not riding at the moment.